The present invention relates to a coaxial electrical connector of the type having a male element and a female element which can be connected removably to one another, having on the connector elements cooperating locking means resistant to axial traction, and release means which can produce a release of the said locking means to permit separation of the elements of the connector.
In FR-A-2,492,598, corresponding to EPO 0050575 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, an electrical connector of this type is described providing good electrical connecting properties and mechanical strength, particularly during relative axial displacement of the elements, while requiring little effort for the coupling and uncoupling of the connector elements.
In this document, each of the connector elements has a central contact of the pin and socket type, respectively, which can cooperate with the central contact of the other element when the connection is made, one of the elements comprising an external ground contact in the form of a socket with radial elasticity and a body in which a recess is made in which an annular elastic keeper is inserted and held, of an open contour, comprising radial projections which can be engaged in the annular groove of the first connector element when the two connector elements are brought axially together, and a peripheral release sleeve which can slide along the second connector element and has an annular wall designed to engage the elastic keeper and push the latter into the recess so as to release the keeper from the throat of the first connector element.
In the known connector the elastic keeper is composed of a strip cut from elastic material having a plurality of spaced projections presenting a curved surface, the annular recess designed to receive and retain the keeper having two inclined walls, one made by machining the body of the corresponding connector element, the other being part of a ring crimped onto the end of the body. Supplemental means, such as an annular clip, are furthermore provided in order to assure that the keeper will be retained in the recess in the body.
On account of the small dimensions of such connectors, the manufacture of such keepers and such recesses in the body of one element of the connector is complex and relatively expensive.
Furthermore, the recess intended to house and retain the elastic keeper is made in the body of the second connector element at a relatively great radial distance from the resilient ground contact socket of this second connector element to permit the socket of the first connector element to lodge in an annular space provided between the elastic socket, the said recess containing the elastic keeper. This considerably increases the bulk in the radial direction of the connector and therefore its outside diameter.